Cambridge man vies to become world’s fastest bricklayer

Filipe Orfao, a local legend of bricklaying, carries a mighty, uh, trowel.

Nothing too fancy. Just a Marshalltown, size 12, London-style trowel.

“It’s a big trowel,” the 43-year-old Cambridge bricklayer said.

And that’s a good thing.

Orfao has a big job ahead of him at the World of Concrete and Masonry show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

His goal is put up a wall of 650 bricks in one hour on a 26-foot double-brick wall. That’s a three-pound brick every five or six seconds.

If he can hit that target, the youngest of six bricklaying brothers from Portugal is confident he can win the World’s Fastest Bricklayer competition against a contenders from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and Canada.

“I do it fast and good also,” he said. “Not everybody can do that.”

Last year, Orfao was fast and good. But not good enough to win.

His 547 bricks came second to a Missouri mason’s 583.

This year, with a pickup truck as the top prize, Orfao insists that second place isn’t good enough. He set up a practice wall in his Galt garage and trained by putting up brick-after-brick, wall-after-wall. Then, he took it down and started over.

“I practice dry,” he said. “Without the mortar.”

But he brought the mortar of his life with him to Las Vegas to cement his chances. His wife Adele, who met him in a Kitchener dance club, and two daughters, 14 and 10, are his good-luck charms and the heart of his cheering section.

So is his brother Jose, who will get him set up on Wednesday and feed him the mortar during his trowel’s finest hour. Jose will also feed Filipe inspiration.

“Go faster!” he will say when Filipe’s pace slips.

“You’re doing OK,” he will assure when Filipe is in a groove.

Then Filipe will relax and calm down. His thoughts do not drift to the grocery list or the nearby slot machines when his trowel is active.

“I hope everything is straight. You can’t make any mistakes. If you make mistakes, you get penalized. You worry a little bit. You worry if the next guy is going faster than you.”

Last October at Conestoga College, nobody was faster than Orfao at the Eastern Canadian competition. Orfao laid 620 bricks to win the competition.

Orfao’s father, Constantino, was a bricklayer, too. He died when Filipe was eight. But his brothers taught him the family trade when he was 13, three years before he moved to Canada.

Orfao works for a company based in Innisfil. His heart is in every job.

“I love my job,” he said.

“When I do a fireplace or some fancy stuff and people go, ‘Wow, you did that?’, that makes me feel good.”

Cambridge man vies to become world’s fastest bricklayer

Filipe Orfao, a local legend of bricklaying, carries a mighty, uh, trowel.

Nothing too fancy. Just a Marshalltown, size 12, London-style trowel.

“It’s a big trowel,” the 43-year-old Cambridge bricklayer said.

And that’s a good thing.

Orfao has a big job ahead of him at the World of Concrete and Masonry show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

His goal is put up a wall of 650 bricks in one hour on a 26-foot double-brick wall. That’s a three-pound brick every five or six seconds.

If he can hit that target, the youngest of six bricklaying brothers from Portugal is confident he can win the World’s Fastest Bricklayer competition against a contenders from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and Canada.

“I do it fast and good also,” he said. “Not everybody can do that.”

Last year, Orfao was fast and good. But not good enough to win.

His 547 bricks came second to a Missouri mason’s 583.

This year, with a pickup truck as the top prize, Orfao insists that second place isn’t good enough. He set up a practice wall in his Galt garage and trained by putting up brick-after-brick, wall-after-wall. Then, he took it down and started over.

“I practice dry,” he said. “Without the mortar.”

But he brought the mortar of his life with him to Las Vegas to cement his chances. His wife Adele, who met him in a Kitchener dance club, and two daughters, 14 and 10, are his good-luck charms and the heart of his cheering section.

So is his brother Jose, who will get him set up on Wednesday and feed him the mortar during his trowel’s finest hour. Jose will also feed Filipe inspiration.

“Go faster!” he will say when Filipe’s pace slips.

“You’re doing OK,” he will assure when Filipe is in a groove.

Then Filipe will relax and calm down. His thoughts do not drift to the grocery list or the nearby slot machines when his trowel is active.

“I hope everything is straight. You can’t make any mistakes. If you make mistakes, you get penalized. You worry a little bit. You worry if the next guy is going faster than you.”

Last October at Conestoga College, nobody was faster than Orfao at the Eastern Canadian competition. Orfao laid 620 bricks to win the competition.

Orfao’s father, Constantino, was a bricklayer, too. He died when Filipe was eight. But his brothers taught him the family trade when he was 13, three years before he moved to Canada.

Orfao works for a company based in Innisfil. His heart is in every job.

“I love my job,” he said.

“When I do a fireplace or some fancy stuff and people go, ‘Wow, you did that?’, that makes me feel good.”

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Cambridge man vies to become world’s fastest bricklayer

Filipe Orfao, a local legend of bricklaying, carries a mighty, uh, trowel.

Nothing too fancy. Just a Marshalltown, size 12, London-style trowel.

“It’s a big trowel,” the 43-year-old Cambridge bricklayer said.

And that’s a good thing.

Orfao has a big job ahead of him at the World of Concrete and Masonry show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

His goal is put up a wall of 650 bricks in one hour on a 26-foot double-brick wall. That’s a three-pound brick every five or six seconds.

If he can hit that target, the youngest of six bricklaying brothers from Portugal is confident he can win the World’s Fastest Bricklayer competition against a contenders from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and Canada.

“I do it fast and good also,” he said. “Not everybody can do that.”

Last year, Orfao was fast and good. But not good enough to win.

His 547 bricks came second to a Missouri mason’s 583.

This year, with a pickup truck as the top prize, Orfao insists that second place isn’t good enough. He set up a practice wall in his Galt garage and trained by putting up brick-after-brick, wall-after-wall. Then, he took it down and started over.

“I practice dry,” he said. “Without the mortar.”

But he brought the mortar of his life with him to Las Vegas to cement his chances. His wife Adele, who met him in a Kitchener dance club, and two daughters, 14 and 10, are his good-luck charms and the heart of his cheering section.

So is his brother Jose, who will get him set up on Wednesday and feed him the mortar during his trowel’s finest hour. Jose will also feed Filipe inspiration.

“Go faster!” he will say when Filipe’s pace slips.

“You’re doing OK,” he will assure when Filipe is in a groove.

Then Filipe will relax and calm down. His thoughts do not drift to the grocery list or the nearby slot machines when his trowel is active.

“I hope everything is straight. You can’t make any mistakes. If you make mistakes, you get penalized. You worry a little bit. You worry if the next guy is going faster than you.”

Last October at Conestoga College, nobody was faster than Orfao at the Eastern Canadian competition. Orfao laid 620 bricks to win the competition.

Orfao’s father, Constantino, was a bricklayer, too. He died when Filipe was eight. But his brothers taught him the family trade when he was 13, three years before he moved to Canada.

Orfao works for a company based in Innisfil. His heart is in every job.

“I love my job,” he said.

“When I do a fireplace or some fancy stuff and people go, ‘Wow, you did that?’, that makes me feel good.”